Zelink Week - Day 6 - Aftermath
by WildlingKnight
Summary: Zelink Week 2016 - The battle still weighed heavily on his mind though. They'd lost too many good men. Some, regrettably, to his own blade. The Demon Lord Ghirahim had turned factions of their own forces against them, and Link had had no choice but to cut them down.


This was written for Zelink Week 2016 over on tumblr. I didn't finish the week (and missed out a day) so I'm putting everything I did finish here.

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Mist clung heavily to the cold air, mingling with the smoke from craters left behind from fire and bombs and making visibility limited. The smell of charred earth and gunpowder filled Link's nostrils as he trudged over the dew soaked grass of Sealed Grounds in the dawn light. He wouldn't normally have been out this early but sleep hadn't come easily, despite the exhausting battle previously fought. Besides, without his lover and Queen to press her warmth to his skin, there really was no reason to still be in bed. Zelda had gone to Death Mountain with Impa, although everyone else knew her to be the helpful but mysterious Sheik. Link had been taken in just the same to begin with, but then she had deemed him trustworthy, and had revealed herself to him. She made him promise not to tell and, at the taste of her lips, he swore.

The battle still weighed heavily on his mind though. They'd lost too many good men. Some, regrettably, to his own blade. The Demon Lord Ghirahim had turned factions of their own forces against them, and Link had had no choice but to cut them down. Influenced as they were, they didn't know their own strengths, and fought with a recklessness they wouldn't have exhibited if they had been in their right minds, if they had been shown mercy and left be, they would have eventually wiped out a vast majority of those unaffected. The only option then would have been a hasty retreat.

Link kicked a Moblin helm out of his way as he trudged on, exhaustion and sleep deprivation pulling at his bones but memories of the faces he once knew rushing him and then falling to his blade without so much as a sound kept him walking. At least when Ghirahim had been defeated and forced to flee, the controlled soldiers left standing had thankfully come back to their senses. Although that had revealed an even bigger problem. To the Hyrulean army's dismay they found that not all of the soldiers attacking their own forces had been possessed. A number of soldiers had willingly turned on their comrades. Link's blood had boiled. How dare they turn on his Queen and country. After everything she had done for them.

It had been chaos, trying to figure out which soldiers had been possessed and which were just traitorous scum. Most of the traitors had been rounded up and awaited punishment, but Link had a feeling some of the cowardly filth had managed to ingratiate themselves back into the forces, avoiding detection. He shivered at the thought that they might get close to Queen Zelda. That the ones who so willingly turned on her, may be put in a position of protection where they could so easily hurt her, maybe even kill her. He promised himself that when they were reunited, he would never leave her side again, and they would never get the chance.

Link had felt a little better about that and had then agreed to be part of the search party, scouring the field for the injured, helping the survivors and soothing the dying. Salvaging the useful weapons and materials left behind for future battles. Zelda had always said she prefered for her army to be resourceful, with the cost of war always rising, salvaging was a good way to try and keep the rupees being spent in the right way. More food for the troops. More medicine for the wounded. Her soldiers were always her top priority. Not just because she needed men to fight. She never considered them as just cannon fodder, expendable, disposable. She valued each and every soldier for the love they had for their country. Their drive to rush to its defense. Their willingness to gamble their lives away for the sake of those who couldn't fight.

Link was startled out of his musings by a cough not too far away. Turning his head in the direction of the sound, at first he thought it was another soldier avoiding sleep just like him, the mist made it difficult to see. But as he drew nearer, he could hear low, agonised moaning between coughs and splutters. He sped up his pace, hand going to the hilt of his sword just in case. Guilt stirred in his gut, what if they had missed a wounded soldier and they had been out here injured and alone all night?

He reached the source of the noise and froze for a split second before rushing forwards and throwing himself down on his knees next to the soldier. The blue and white of his knights uniform could barely be seen under the grime of the battlefield and the blood, all of that blood. He'd been severely wounded, Link was surprised he'd made it through the night, but judging by the laboured breathing and glassy look to his eyes, he wasn't going to last much longer. He'd felt Link land beside him and instinctively reached his hand out, which Link grabbed and held to his chest, squeezing the knights shoulder comfortingly with his other hand like he'd done to the other dying men the night before. It never got easier.

The knight coughed and tried to speak, choking and breath hitching and Link squeezed his hand and shushed him but he would not be calmed.

"I'm...not...sorry." Shaking his head, Link tried again to sooth him, he must have been delirious. "I d-didn't-" He broke off into hacking coughs and fresh wet blood appeared at the corner of his mouth. His grating breaths nearly made Link cringe but he stayed close, leaning down so the soldier didn't have to strain so hard to be heard. "I...n-never...wanted...to be...h-here" His grip seemed to tighten and Link tightened his grip too, "I th-thought...that if..enough..of us turned...it w-would...be over...and I c-could...g-go home..." Link's brow furrowed before his eyes widened, his grip turned slack and the soldier, no, the _traitor,_ doubled his hold on Link's hand. "Y-you have...to und-derstand...I have...a f-family…"

Link managed to wrestle his hand away and stood, removing his sword from its scabbard and glaring hatefully down at the pathetic specimen before him. He couldn't hear the continued rasping excuses over the pounding in his ears and the roaring thoughts of his anger. They _all_ had places they wished they could be instead of here. They _all_ had families and loved ones and people back home. _That's why they were here_. To protect the people they loved, and to make sure there were still homes to go back to. How _dare_ this man offer such selfish reasons for his mutinous actions. How _dare_ he turn on his brothers. _How dare he turn on Zelda._

He focused when he realised the soldier was reaching out for him again, pleading for his understanding, begging for medical attention so he could be allowed home. If anything, Link's expression became fiercer, his piercing blue eyes sharper as he moved over the traitor, bracing his stance as he reached down and grasped the soldiers wrist with his right hand, making as though to haul him to his feet.

The soldier was smiling, thanking him. Angling his left hand, as he pulled the soldier upwards, he thrust his sword downwards. The soldiers breath hitched and his grip on Link's arm tightened as his eyes flew impossibly wide. Link remained impassive, breathing hard through his nose with the strain of holding the soldier up, watching the life drain out of him until his hand fell from its death grip on his arm. He used his foot to push the soldier down off of his sword before he sheathed it and took a few deep breaths to steady himself, all the while staring down at the corpse.

Mercy. He had been merciful. He could have done worse to him. He wished he _had_ done worse. He hadn't deserved a quick death. He should have walked away and left him there.

But Zelda wouldn't have wanted him to. She would have been upset with him if he'd allowed the traitor _the fucking traitor_ to suffer. She'd be glad. And he'd rest better knowing he had one less murderer to worry about taking her away from him.

Because after all, no-one betrayed the woman he loved and got away with it.

No-one hurt his Zelda.

No-one.

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Let me know what you think please :)


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